Jieun Kim/Unpredicted Love/ Tues 11-1

Unpredicted Love

           Even before I started going to Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, the whole school was going onto an orientation trip. I was very excited since it was the first time meeting people from our department and I was hoping to get to know a lot of friends and get closer.

           On the recreation time of the second day, we were supposed to do a talent show in groups, where we would dance, sing, or recreate a famous gag program. This is where I met this guy, Dong Hyeon Lee. I clearly remember him because his group mimicked a famous gag program and in the process, he ripped off his shirt. Not entirely, but I could almost see his belly. It was a visual shock. I never expected to see a part of another guy's upper body. And the feeling of surprise and shock was his first impression.

           However, as hours passed by, I closely observed him and he seemed to be very humorous and he hung out with others very, very well. His smile was like a bright sunshine. This was mainly because even though he did not look younger than his actual age, he laughed like a 7-year-old boy. His laugh was naïve and pure. It made other people laugh as well. Also, his fashion sense was incredible. Since, it was very cold and windy at that time, everybody was wearing jeans. However, he was the only one to wear shorts with red leggings underneath them. It would sound weird if a person wore red leggings under shorts, but I never thought it was weird. Actually, he looked very fashionable. His group members constantly laughed at his jokes and he looked very proud of himself and confident.

           I really never thought that I would get close with him. However, surprisingly, he is now my boyfriend who I have been dating for over a year. He still laughs a laugh that makes other people laugh as well. Also, he still sometimes wear weird but fashionable clothes that other people might question. However, he tells me that he loves me very much in a soft, warm, hot chocolatish voice and I enjoy it very much.

Choi Yun/Jungsun/Tues 34

Jungsun

             Her name is Jungsun and she is my grandmother. We have been lived together since I was born, approximately for 21 years. Being together for a long time, we have made good memories that we can never forget.

             Since my mother was a career woman, Jungsun was a mother to me. She fed me, raised me, and loved me. As a mother, she was very strict. Whenever I played up, she scolded and punished me harshly.

             Now she is an old lady with gray hair. Even such a strong woman could not stop the stream of times. Lumbar disc disease conquered her and she suffers from backache when she walks for a while. Although she seems to be old weak woman, she has an enthusiastic zest for her life.

             She has fervor for education. When she was young, our country was so poor that most of the people could not receive any fundamental education. So, she could not learn how to read and write. Since she have never received any education, her aspiration towards it is enormous. But she could not study because she had to earn money to educate her children and later she had to take care of her grandchildren. After finishing such tasks, now she is learning how to read and write and how to type with smartphone.

             In addition, she is a devoted mother. She is always willing to sacrifice herself for my family. Her priority is always her family, not herself. When I was 8 years old, I had a car accident, and my left leg was broken. Since my family was not that affluent at that time, there was no spare car for her to drive me to the school and there was no money to take a taxi for a month. So, I had to walk for 20 minutes to get there. To , she carried me on her back and brought me to the school for a month.

             Furthermore, she is ambitious. Even at the age of 75, she has many dreams, ranging from traveling all around the world to getting driver's license. She is getting on with those step by step. To achieve her dream traveling throughout the world, she goes abroad once in a year and now she has traveled more than 15 countries including Turkey, Spain, and Vietnam. And to get her driver's license, she is struggling to read fast.

             Someone who first met her might mindlessly think that she is just a common senior citizen, however, she is much more than that. She is someone who lives her life the more passionately than any other. She is someone who improve not only herself and but also her family.

Gui Hwan Kim/ Chapter3 first draft/ Tuesdays 34

Friends without boarders

 

Having to move so often when I was young I never really had a true long lasting friend. Every time I made a close friend I moved to a new country. We promised to keep in though through email, but being so far away and living in two different places, contact through email did not last very long. It was frustrating and upsetting that I had no friend I knew for a very long time, but I am lucky to have this one friend.

           We used to go to the same high school. We are the same age, though she was grade lower than me. We knew each other existence for a while but were never really friends, but one day she was brave and asked we should hang out one day. From that day on Jasmine and I became very close friends. There were not that many people of the same age at our school which made us closer. She is one of my best friends.

           Jasmine is a very shy girl, but very passionate in what she wants to do in the future making her a very strong person. She always enjoyed playing competitive sports, which gave her a strong figure. She likes to show off her fashion items and dress posh. Her dream was to do study esthetics and open her own shop. Both her parents disagreed on her career decision. Her father owns a very big business in Korea and wanted her elder daughter continue the business, but Jasmine was certain in what she wanted to do. She went to study esthetics in college and worked part time at skin shops to gain experience. Her career goal never changed and worked hard for it. Eventually she opened her own shop in Korea and is now a young business owner.

           I am very proud of her for reaching her goal, but I am also thankful. During my first year of college in Canada, I was considering moving college, starting over in Korea. It was a tough decision, but one I wanted to make for various reasons. My parents invested a lot of money to me so that I can study abroad, but I wanted to give it all up and start over. Jasmine helped me get the thoughts together and make a decision. She told, we all have our goals and we both should go towards that goal despite whatever comes our way. She told me to be brave, just like she plans to be and be strong in making decisions.

           After leaving Canada, we lived in different countries for about two year. She eventually came to Korea to open her shop and now we are able to meet often. I eventually dropped out of my very first college and started all over in Korea. It is one the best decisions I have ever made. While making this decision I received advice from many people, but one person's advice still remains in my head today. Jasmine is a special friend to me and I hope to be friends for a very long time. 

Han Gyul Kim/The first draft/Tues 3-4

201200909 Han Gyul Kim

My Brother

             It was cold winter when he was born. I still remember that I went to the hospital to see my mom and newborn brother in the early morning of January fourteen years ago. He is my oldest sibling, who is six years younger than me, among two younger brothers and one younger sister. But, he is my best friend in our family.

             He doesn't look like the typical boys of his age. His long, wavy hair reaches his shoulder which seems to be too long for a boy, and his skin is white as if he has never been outside. As a brother, sometimes it's a quite pity to see his skinny body. Although he eats a lot, he never gains his weight.

             We were not a good friend for each other from the beginning. When he was a baby and I was an elementary school student, I really hated him because he was the one who stole my mom's love from me. Until he became ten, we fought day and night. It was the period when my mother started to work, so both of my parents were working outside.

Eventually, two of us had to spend time together after school without anybody else, so I was responsible to take care of him as an older brother. I started to find out how much alike we are, and played with him with joy. He was good at games unlike me, so he taught me how to play some games and I loved those times. We both play games nowadays, sometimes together, and he is still better than me.

             Though he is such a great friend of mine, he had some trouble with his peers in school. He became a homeschooler, studied by himself, and recently passed a qualification exam equivalent to middle school graduation. I think the fact that he quitted school is not important. He is still a good brother, a good friend of mine, and at the same time good son for my parents.

Suhan Lee/the First Draft/Tuesday 34

I met her in July last year. She was a newcomer to my church when I served as a leader of the newcomer's group. The first thing I got impressed was her name. Her name is Dream Choi which means dream itself and dedicating in Korean. She looked more like a boy than a girl. She was a 170 centimeter-tall girl who had a short-cut hair and dressed like a boy. She said that she liked taking exercise such as soccer, riding a bicycle, and running. Also, she liked dancing(she is even good at!). At first, I thought we wouldn't get to be friends because it seemed to have in little common between us. Finally, however, we find something we both are interested in-Music. She has lived in a local city, Ulsan. When she turned 21, she decided to come up to Seoul to study vocal music. It was such a great challenge for her because she was timid and has never left there until she was nineteen. But, her enthusiasm for music led her to throw herself into the unfamiliar, heartless-looking capital of Korea. Finally, she moved to Seoul in 2013. Since she had no family or friends in Seoul, I decided to be a good friend to her to be devoted to my role of newcomer group's leader. I took her to go sightseeing every nook and cranny of the capital area. I remember the first day she took a subway train. Her eyes widened like a Chihuahua with wonder. Not only that, every place we went was a whole different world to her. The most wondrous experience she got was to go to the zoo. She said one of her lifelong dreams was to go to the zoo and see real giraffes with the naked eye. In her birthday, 13th June, I took her to the largest zoo in Korea. We got around the whole zoo until our feet got too swollen to walk. We saw giraffes, elephants, rhinoceros, snakes, and other countless number of animals. All day long, she looked delighted as if she was in the seventh heaven. Even now, she says it was the happiest day ever in her life. Through these various experiences, we have gotten more and more intimate. I was told about her lifetime stories which she has never told anyone. A lot of unimagined sufferings and agonies in her youth made me surprised because she always looked happy and seemed just to enjoy her life without any adversities. As I thought of for the first few months, those who know her regard her as an always-happy or even sometimes mindless girl. However, now I know she is more considerate and mature than any other people around me. The more I know her, the dearer she becomes. Undoubtedly, she is the most valuable friend to me.

So-Eun Yoon/ Chapter3 first draft/ Tuesdays 34

A Great Mentor of My Life   So-Eun Yoon              When I think of the word "professor," it always reminded me of someone who is knowledgeable but stiff and narrow-minded. All the other professors I met in school were much like turtles only sticking their head out of their shells when it was time to give lectures. After the bell rang for recess, they would go back into their shells and stick their nose into papers and never come out again. But someone I met in college completely changed how I view professors. His name is Joseph Vincent.              I remember the first day of his presentation class. Being a freshman, I was full of great expectations for my new classes and professors. Although I rarely sit in front of the classroom, I was running a bit late that day, and the only seats left in the classroom were those in the front row. But when Professor Vincent entered the room with a relaxed, confident smile on his face, I knew that moment I would love this class. His class was what made Wednesdays my favorite day of the week for the entire year.              What made Professor Vincent distinct from all the other professors was his young and free mindset. He was a man in his late forties; in fact, he was the exact same age as my dad, but talking to him made me feel no different from talking to my college friends. Instead of trying to infuse certain ideas or values in his students, he viewed his students and himself as two humans simply sharing their thoughts and experiences. Nobody was there to teach or to judge. We were just separate individuals helping each other grow and evolve into more mature humans. In all of the three classes I took from him, he never assigned a presentation topic to his students. Rather, he let us choose our own topic and talk about anything we wanted as long as it had a clear purpose and benefit to the audience. Not only that, but he never forgot to return each one of his students a sincere feedback on how to become better presenters after listening to their talk.              To me, having a chance to know Professor Vincent was a blessing in my life. He has enriched my life in so many ways. He taught me that age is really nothing but a number as long as you keep your mind healthy and young. If I could grow up to have such a youthful mind even when I reach his age, I would call my life a great success.

First Draft/ My friend Jung-Hyun/ Jihee Won Tues34

Oh, thank you god! I finally got accepted to HUFS! After one more year of studying to enter university, I became a freshman of Arabic department. And it was at orientation when I first met my friend Jung-Hyun. We only knew each other's phone number because we exchanged our numbers on internet club for freshmen. There were six friends, including me and her, who became closer by Kakaotalk group chatting because we had one thing in common: entering university one year later than normal because we studied one more year for entrance exam.

On the way to the orientation, I was a little bit afraid to meet new friends. Though we had lots of conversations on mobile messengers, we didn't see each other before and it's first time we introduce ourselves face to face! We promised to meet in advance at school cafeteria before the orientation starts. It was me who arrived first and I asked others where they are : suddenly I got a phone call from Jung-Hyun. "Jihee, this is Jung-Hyun. I almost arrived and what kind of clothes are you wearing because I cannot find you!" I was wearing black coat and also dyed my hair blonde at that time. Before ending the call, I saw a girl approaching to me and that was her. While waiting for others, we became friendlier because both of us were very talkative. When all of us met, we ordered pork cutlets for lunch. We talked about our expectations in this university.

After the orientation, we had after parties to welcome freshmen with seniors. Jung-Hyun and I were in same group during the party and we found a surprising thing in common between us! We were born on same day, March 31th! We screamed in surprise!

Time passed, and our first semester in university began. Among six of us, Jung-Hyun was the only one who lived in Imun-dong, near the back gate of school. As it was the first semester, we got really tired after Arabic classes. Three hours of grammar classes were too harsh for us! After class, we used to go her house and sleep before time for dinner. Usually, she made dinner for us and we headed to subway station after having dinner made by her. She was good at cooking rolled omelet, noodle, and oil pasta. Also she prepared various kinds of foods which she invented and treated us. Happy to have such a great cook as my friend!

She also loves reading comic books and watching dramas. When I visited her house, she was always watching new dramas that I didn't see before. "You were watching Game of thrones last week, didn't you?" "Yes, I was but now I had finished it and now watching Attack of Titans since yesterday. Sit here and let's watch it together". Her hobby continued though it was midterm examination period. We watched dramas for hours and slept until the alarm clock rang. Hearing the alarm, we got up and packed our bags to go to school library. Sometimes I thought spending hours like this during the exam period was not appropriate behavior but I don't regret it because we really had fun!

Both of us like drinking. When we were taking summer vacation classes, we drank with other friends one day. We made jokes and acted like fool and friends giggled at us. After hours, I was too drunk and couldn't walk to subway station. So Jung-Hyun and I took taxi and went to her house. The next morning I woke up, I was wearing her pajama. I told her I have no recollection of changing my clothes. She told me that she changed my clothes and freshly laundered my clothes before I woke up. I was touched by my friend's kindness. She also loves to share her goods with friends. She used to work as a part-timer in cosmetic shop, and when she got new lipsticks or cosmetic creams from the store, she always gave some of them to me as a gift.

There is a saying that "Joy is doubled and sadness is halved when shared". We were always together when we were having fun; however she was also next to me in the gloomiest times. When I had a big argument with my parents last winter, without thinking where to go, I just stepped out of my house. I called Jung-Hyun if it is ok for her to stay with. I didn't have any money in my hand because I didn't get allowances from parents. Without hesitance, she said yes. When I arrived at her house, she already prepared meals for me. After dinner, she bought bottles of beer and I told about the reason why I had such a big argument with my parents. She listened without a word and made sincere comments for me. We watched a movie together and I felt more relaxed. The next day, she had to go back to her home in In-cheon, but I hadn't made any reconciliation with my parents. She told me " Why don't you stay in my house for one more day? It doesn't matter to me so you just stay here. Unfortunately, I have an appointment with my parents so I cannot stay with you today but feel at home as it's your own room." I was so sorry and thankful to her.

It's been almost two years since I met her. For two years, she was always kind, caring, truthful, and reliable. She is one of my dearest friends in this university and we didn't have any troubles yet. I think that's because we have so much things in common; almost same GPA, habits, life patterns, and personality. I appreciate precious memories with her and want to continue our relationship forever.